The Yale Anthology of Twentieth-Century French Poetry

Yves Bonnefoy 1923–

tours, france

A

beloved contemporary poet in France, Bonnefoy is also an essayist

and art historian who has produced numerous translations of Shake-

speare. Surrealism had a great impact on his work; after the war he

founded the review La Révolution la nuit and became briefly involved in the

Surrealist movement. He studied math and philosophy at the University of

Poitiers and at the Sorbonne, after moving to Paris in 1944. Bonnefoy also edited

the review L’Éphémère with Louis-René des Forêts, Gaëton Picon, André du

Bouchet, and Jacques Dupin, and later with Paul Celan and Michel Leiris. In 1981

he was awarded the Grand prix national de la poésie by the Académie française.

He is a leading scholar on Rimbaud, Poussin, and Giacometti, among many

other artists, as well as on the baroque era, and has served as chair at the Collège

de France. Principal works: Du mouvement et de l’immobilité de Douve, 1953; Hier

régnant desert, 1958; Pierre écrite, 1964; Dans le leurre du seuil, 1975; Ce qui fut sans

lumière, 1987; Début et fin de la neige, 1991; Les Planches courbes, 2001.